


Faster than the Wind

by ismellitblue



Series: Things We Lost In The Fire [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: Rita and Larry learn the truth about Niles a little earlier-they decide to run.
Relationships: Rita Farr & Larry Trainor
Series: Things We Lost In The Fire [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1419391
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Faster than the Wind

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Batman, and I definitely do not own Doom Patrol.

Rita’s heart thundered, the rucksack that she was carrying on her back,nearly sliding off as her shoulder turned to jelly.Beside her Larry was running too, his chest sparking blue and angry, the spirit hissing violently as Larry’s sobs mixed with Rita’s.

Off in the distance they could hear dogs barking, and the sound of dozens of footsteps.A gun went off,and the tree branch where Larry had been seconds before exploded…that was the last straw.The spirit wrenched itself from Larry, and Rita didn’t halt as she grabbed his limp form, and continued to move. Dragging both Larry and her left leg,that was nothing more than a misshapen stump.

She didn’t look back when agonized screams began, and when warm dark red splattered all over her,she pretended like it was just a sudden rain shower.

_That’s right_ ,she and Larry had just been taking a walk, and they’d been caught in a sudden storm.They weren’t on the run from the Bureau of Normalcy, and Niles certainly wasn’t part of the bur-She heaved at the last part,her fingers extending like a rubber band and she lost her grip on Larry,joining him on the forest floor as she turned into a meat puddle.

She sloshed uselessly, her mass enveloping the bandaged man and dragging him down with her as she fell down a cliff and straight into the freezing waters of the river below.

***

The churning waters of the river moved them, her body acting like a lifeboat,with Larry curled up in her center,clutching the only things they’d managed to escape with.They didn’t talk, the reality of the situation kicking in as they both stared at nothing.

Sometimes they heard the sound of helicopters,but none of them ever came close,the tall trees around the river hiding them.

_He’d betrayed them_ ,Niles Caulder had betrayed them.He’d looked Rita in the eye for years and he’d lied.Then he’d pretended to ‘ _save’_ Larry,after being the one to hand him over to Forsythe and his legion of bloodsuckers.

If the Negative Spirit hadn’t seen Forsythe when he’d come to the manor during their New year’s celebration,how long would he have kept up the lie?Fifteen?twenty-years?Sixty?!Would have kept lying for eternity?

“I’m sorry,”Larry finally said after hours of silence, a vulnerability in his voice that Rita never wanted to hear again.

What was he sorry for?For telling her the truth?For shattering her safe haven by showing her the viper in the nest?

“I’m sorry too,”

She was sorry the world had no place for their kind.Where would they go?Niles had broken them just so, making sure he’d be the only one to ever want them.It was messed up how she still thought going back was an option-even after he’d sent armed men after them.And even more messed up, was that she knew,without a doubt-he’d welcome them with open arms and forgive them for _their mistake_.

***

“We can’t go back there,I-”And just like that, any thoughts of going back to Niles evaporated, she’d spent close to a decade trying to coax Larry out of his shell.If they returned to Doom Manor, he’d go back in, and this time he wouldn’t come out.

“Of course were not going back, we just need a game plan,and then we’ll be set,”Had she wanted, she could have added false bravado to her voice,but she was with Larry, and she’d come to realize she didn’t need to hide herself with him.

***

The Bureau had people everywhere.

They learned that one the hard way, after two towns in a row where the citizens had turned on them with the accuracy of hunting dogs as soon as they’d set foot there.The last one they escaped had included a blind old man, a dirty magazine with busty women, a conjoined fish, and Rita pretending to climax.The less said about how those events went together-the better.

They took to travelling at night, hitching rides on the backs of trucks without their drivers knowing they were there.

It was demeaning-she was a golden globe nominee, it was repulsive, they smelt of wet dog and cow dung.And it was tiring,with both of them only napping a few minutes at a time,to make sure they weren’t caught.But finally after a week of non-stop travel,they reached their destination.

Rita had the luxury of being able to wipe herself down in a public toilet,but Larry had no such luck.No matter how much stolen perfume, she doused him with,the smell still remained, until they finally decided it would be best if he waited outside,while Rita did the talking.

***

Rita looked around at the decorations in the tea room she’d been directed to.It was extravagant.

The Rita of the past would have loved it, as things stood, she just took it in with vague interest.When the doors opened,she stood, she and the red-haired woman embraced lightly, both of them kissing the air an inch from each other’s cheeks as was customary.

“Martha, how lovely to see you,”Martha Wayne’s smile widened, her eyes sparkling.

“Rita-good to see you as well, you still don’t look a day over thirty,”And she never would, but Martha didn’t need to know that.

“What brings you here?”She asked,pouring them both tea in matching china cups dabbed in gold.

Rita could beg,she could cry and she could manipulate, but of all the socialites she’d met,Martha Wayne was her favourite.So she took a deep breath and told the truth.

“I need your help,”Martha scooted forward, her eyes going serious.

***

Once,when Rita’d been just a little softer, she’d seen something.A girl, laughing freely clinging to the arm of a man whose face was in every picture in production.There were a lot of girls like that at the ball, but something about that particular girl kept drawing Rita’s gaze, and it was only after sidling closer to her,that she’d realized what it was.

The girl wasn’t just young…she was a child, no older than fifteen.

Rebellious,and testing her boundaries, but undoubtedly a child.Blinded by the light, and glinting teeth, listening to the sweet nothings making her feel like the only girl in the world.She didn’t see the dangerous shadow in the man’s eyes, didn’t see him slip something into her drink and when he urged her to finish her glass-she obeyed with all the trust of a babe.

But at some point,she must have realized something was wrong.She shouldered her way through the dance floor,all her grace from earlier gone.Her date had followed,moving at a distance,focused solely on her-not seeing Rita at his heels.

Rita had come upon them hidden by a giant pillar facing a manicured garden.The girl struggling weakly, her screams reduced to nothing but a barely there croak.It hadn’t been Rita’s place to intervene,the man was influential,he could ruin her.So she hadn’t said anything, she’d simply picked up a sculpture from a nearby table and swung… _hard_.

Then she’d righted the girl’s dress and held her upright as they left.The girl had spent the night in Rita’s hotel room drinking copious amounts of water to flush out the drug, and crying freely.In the morning she’d left, promising to pay Rita back in whatever way she needed.

At the time Rita’d always thought she’d use the favour to further her career, but now she looked at Martha Wayne, all grown up ,and advancing her non-existent career was farthest from her mind.

“…I need a place to stay,to lay low and not be bothered for as long as I’m there,”Martha stared at her for a long time, considering and when she finally spoke up,Rita released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“Consider it done, and I’ll add a few million dollars to the deal-Rita,what you did back then-you save my life,I can never fully repay you,”

As it turned out,Martha Wayne did more than repay the favour.Larry and Rita found themselves owning a patch of land on the Wayne property, complete with a house that had its own bunker in the basement(Martha and her husband hadn’t even asked why, they’d just done it).

And that started their new lives in a different in a manor that didn’t hold Niles Caulder and his many skeletons.


End file.
